Here is the wish I’m ashamed of—that you were the type of grandparent who had a fun nickname like Papa or Gramps, who came to my dance recitals, who called me on my birthday. Who would have intervened, gotten to know me, before it was too late and dementia stole all but your oldest memories. Leaving me with the responsibility to build this relationship that had never fully bloomed. … More
Never Gone
FICTION by Jody Hobbs HeslerDuring court proceedings, the advocate she’d been assigned kept telling her that everything Ronnie did was his fault. Only his. She re-played that message in her mind until she believed it. Or mostly believed it. But people judge. You can see it in their eyes, a calculation of how much trouble knowing you is worth.… More
On a Clear Day You Can See Chicago
FLASH FICTION by Tammy PeacyTess can’t tell Brick how no one says that’s how I roll or how literally everyone knows his name is actually Allan. Or other things. Like, she sometimes skips school and seeks patterns in the cracked ceiling above his brother’s bed.
… More
Clicky Rib
FICTION by Jane O'SullivanEvery time I heard that click, I couldn’t help imagining that drawer in her chest. That compartment sliding out. Sometimes I pictured skin, other times it was slippery as liver.… More
Some Heavy Lifting
FLASH NONFICTION by Eric P. MuellerThrusting your own weight means thrusting a lot. Thrusting because of how it affects your body, not just by changing it, but putting it in proximity with other thrusting bodies. Thrusting because no weight on a bar feels heavier than lonesomeness in your abdomen.… More
Flats
FICTION by Matthew GreenThe area was a tame pocket of wilderness that attracted youth, as places like it sometimes will. Bike jumps loomed through the trees, the occasional empty cigarette packet, a graffiti-stamped drainpipe protruded from the creek’s end where many a young boy or girl’s courage was no doubt tested.… More
Clunkers
FICTION by Meghan Louise WagnerThe next time your dad calls from Atlantic City, you do as you’re told. You open the safe, pack the cash, and head to Western Union.… More
DUST OF THE BOOTHEEL
FICTION by G. A. RiversJerome recognizing the man’s profile, asking himself if karma really was the bitch everyone said it was or did payback simply come down to a man taking action after he’d decided enough was enough?… More
Our Father
FLASH NONFICTION by Tessa RossiOur father studied geology and psychology. Was a science teacher, until students proved alien. A stint in the Air Force as potential NASA pathway. Gravity defeated him, exacted its price for warp speed.… More
Black Spots on Roses
FICTION by Rita TaryanBut today, Gary leans forward, breathing emotionally like a heavyset wolfhound, pained, invites me animally into his personal funk (I don’t mind the intimacy, I’m in a good place in my life now), and pulling me in close with his big brown furry eyes—they’re frame-draggers reflecting morass—he moans, “It’s over. It’s over.”… More
Rain Man
FLASH FICTION by Drew GummersonK’s spending the night at mine because this time his pop has beat him real bad. It’s come out that K’s mom had another kid before she ever met him and K’s pop’s furious, been on a helluva bender for days, which only ever leads to one thing. Fists.… More
